The Hobbit Facsimile First EditionBoxed SetJ. R. R. TolkienJ.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit became an instant success when it was first published in 1937, and 75 years later Tolkien’s epic tale of elves, dwarves, trolls, goblins, myth, magic and adventure has lost none of its appeal. To commemorate this anniversary, HarperCollins is proud to present a facsimile edition of the first historic printing of The Hobbit. A must-have for any collector or fan!November | FICTION/Fantasy/General | FIC009000 | £40 |978-0-00-744083-2 | HB | 5 3/8 x 7 1/2 | 312 pp

The Pocket HobbitJ. R. R. TolkienBilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home; then one day the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services – as a burglar. Bilbo’s life is never to be the same again. Perfect for gift giving, this is a beautiful hardcover pocket edition of The Hobbit, commemorating 75 years since the publication of this beloved book.November | FICTION/Fantasy/General | FIC009000 | £11 |978-0-00-744084-9 | HB | 4 3/8 x 6 | 304 pp

The History of the HobbitOne Volume EditionJ. R. R. Tolkien and John RateliffFor the first time in one volume, The History of the Hobbit presents the complete unpublished text of the original manuscript of J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff ’s lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. As well as recording the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, it examines – chapter-by-chapter – why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien’s ever-growing concept of Middle-earth.August | LITERARY CRITICISM/Science Fiction & Fantasy |LIT004260 | £35 | 978-0-00-744082-5 | HB | 5 5/8 x 8 3/4 | 960 pp

A Tolkien TapestryPictures to accompany The Lord of the RingsCor Blok, Illustrated by Cor BlokThis brand new full-colour art book reveals in sumptuous detail over 100 paintings based on The Lord of the Rings by acclaimed Dutch artist, Cor Blok, many of which appear here for the first time. Fifty years ago Cor Blok was captivated by the trilogy and this spark of enthusiasm led to the creation of over 100 paintings.October | FICTION/Fantasy/General | FIC009000 | £22 |978-0-00-743798-6 | HB | 7 1/2 x 9 5/8 | 160 ppDeluxe edition: £50 | 978-0-00-743799-3

Mr BlissJ. R. R. Tolkien, Illustrated by J. R. R. TolkienA brand new edition of this long unavailable children’s story with newly scanned manuscript pages and redesigned text. Tolkien invented and illustrated the book of Mr Bliss’s adventures for his own children when they were very young. The story is reproduced here exactly as he created it – handwritten with lots of detailed and uproarious colour pictures.November | FICTION/Fantasy/General | FIC009000 | £16 |978-0-00-743619-4 | HB | 5 1/8 x 7 3/4 | 144 ppAlso available in unabridged audio: £21 | 978-0-00-744052-8

From correspondence with David Brawn at HarperCollins, I also have details of Tolkien eBooks for the next year.

I am pleased to say that the eBooks will be published this year, with the two volumes of The Book of Lost Tales published in the next couple of weeks, to be followed at two-monthly intervals by the three Early Silmarillion volumes, then the four Lord of the Rings volumes, and finally the two Later Silmarillion and the Peoples of Middle-earth volumes in September. The complementary work, The History of The Hobbit, will follow as an ebook in October. Carpenter’s A Biography, together with John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War, will be published as eBooks at the end of April, to coincide with new paperback editions of both works. We are planning to publish eBooks of Letters and the Hammond and Scull books early next year.

Phew, glad that was indeed just a mockup (it looked too rough to be real). Hopefully the real thing does look a lot better. My Amazon order is only £22.50 (with that discount a while back), so at least it is inexpensive.

The picture came from HC, couple of points, the audio-cd includes the extra tracks from the Kindle Hobbit, and it looks like the spine of the book, is a better colour match to the original 1937 1st printing.

I think the text of Tolkien's lecture on Dragons from the 1st January 1938, page 310 of the revised Reader's Guide by Scull and Hammond, is also included, and I don't think this has been published before.

Glad to see they have made the boards green. That was the main thing I was interested in (and the first thing my eyes zoomed to on the photo!). I was hoping they might have lightened the green a bit on the jacket, but can't have everything.

This is the text from the Facebook postA week to go until this truly exceptional edition is released…

We are proud to present this commemorative HOBBIT FACSIMILE GIFT EDITION, which is packed to the rafters with special goodies including:

- A replica of the first edition containing the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it in 1947 (original editions are rare and pricey so few have had the chance to read this, until now)- A special copy of Thror’s map which reveals the secret moon-runes when held to the light, as Tolkien first intended (but never enjoyed, as the map became endpapers instead)- A CD of archive recordings that capture Tolkien reading from The Hobbit, including three previously unreleased excerpts- A colour illustrated booklet that recounts the history of The Hobbit, plus connected writings by JRR Tolkien, including the never-before-published lecture ‘Dragons’ that he gave to children in Oxford on New Year’s Day 1938 to promote The Hobbit.- A 3D lenticular cover based on Tolkien's own original book jacket design.

Thanks, Berelach, for letting us know that there is a printing marked as a first, otherwise we might have supposed that the paperback Beren and Lúthien was the fourth printing following on three in hardback. In London prior to the Bodleian opening next week, we found only fourth printings in Hatchard's, Waterstones in Garrick Street, and the British Library bookshop, but there are several first printings (less the one we bought) at Foyles in Charing Cross Road.

Findegil wrote:Thanks, Berelach, for letting us know that there is a printing marked as a first, otherwise we might have supposed that the paperback Beren and Lúthien was the fourth printing following on three in hardback. In London prior to the Bodleian opening next week, we found only fourth printings in Hatchard's, Waterstones in Garrick Street, and the British Library bookshop, but there are several first printings (less the one we bought) at Foyles in Charing Cross Road.

Wayne & Christina

My pleasure Findegil! On a somewhat related note, I'm still trying to find out if there was a first printing issued of the 2017 Jemima Catlin paperback Hobbit as 2nds were sent out for the pre-orders last year.

We saw a third printing of the paperback Catlin Hobbit at Foyles. As far as we've been able to determine, the first paperback printing was marked as the second, and that's what we bought on publication. Does anyone know if there was more than one printing of the original hardback? If not, one could assume that the first paperback was the second printing overall (dangerous though such an assumption could be).